Shirt ironing machine



June 12, 1934. A. VARGO SHIRT IRONING MACHINE Original Filed Aug. 31.1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

June 12, 1934. A. VARGO SHIRT IRONING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 OriginalFiled Aug. 31, 1951 ]NV[ )VTOR. I BY a. Q

I Fay.

Patented June 12, 1934 SHIRT IRONING MACHINE Andrew Vargo, Bridgeport,Conn., assignor to Edward H. Liefeid, Bridgeport, Conn.

Application August 31, 1931, Serial No. 560,350 Renewed March 9, 1934Claims.

This invention relates in general to ironing machines, and moreparticularly, to improvements in a shirt bosom ironing machine whichserve to protect the free ends of collars and other 5 parts of the shirtfrom improper wrinkling and creasing.

In machines for ironing shirt bosoms it is desirable to iron as close tothe neckband as possible without crushing the band, and it is especiallydesirable to iron without creasing th bosom and crushing the collar ofshirts of the collar attached type.

It is customary to provide a neckband form and clamping device onironing machines which serves to hold neckbands of shirts in apredetermined position during ironing, and it has heretofore beenproposed to provide small vertically disposed pins or other projectionson the neckband form for protecting the free ends of collars.

However, in these previous proposals it was necessary to perform severalseparate operations each time a shirt with a collar attached was ironed.In particular, it was necessary to turn in and turn back first one andthen the other of the free ends or points of the collars in back of thepins or other projections. These were slow, time-consuming operationswhich, if not done carefully, would result sometimes in crushing orimproperly creasing the collar.

The difficulty is not that the engagement of the heated plate would doany damage to the collar but rather that if the collar ends should becaught between the two plates it would be given a crease or fold wherethese are not wanted. This crease or fold cannot be ironed out by merelyplacing it in the collar ironingmachine for it requires practicallyrewetting the collar and unavoidably the bosom in order to take out thecrease.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device orarrangement for protecting the free ends or points of collars during thebosom ironing operation and especially to provide a device of this typewhich requires less time to operate, and one which is simpler and moreefificient than those heretofore proposed. With this object in view, thepresent invention provides a safety shield preferably made integral witha neckband clamping device, adapted to sweep across the bosom a shortdistance toward the neckband and to automatically, without manualman'pulation of the collar or its ends, move the collar ends to a safe,out-of-the-way position and maintain them there during the bosom ironingoperation.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings- Figure l is a front elevation of the main operatingparts of a shirt ironing machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the neckband clampmg device and safetyshield of the present invention in its intermediate position.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2, but shows the parts in the final orclamping position.

Fig. 4 is a view looking at the front of the neckband clamping deviceand collar safety shield of the present invention in its full operativeposition.

In the drawings there is shown a shirt ironing machine comprising a base10 with vertical standards (not shown) supporting a combined steam tablestationary platen 11. Above the platen and mounted upon suitablesupports for 7 either vertical or oscillating movement into opcrating orironing engagement with the platen is a movable presser 12. Preferably,the platen is provided with a large convex upper surface 13 cushioned,and fabric covered, and themovable 0 presser is provided with a concavelower surface 14 of highly polished uncovered metal, the generalarrangement being such that steam heat and pressure may be applied bythe mating surfaces 13 and 14 to a shirt or other article placed there-8 between, in the now well-known manner.

To iron partially closed front shirts, that type wherein a small gap andonly one or two buttons are provided beneath the neckband for pullingthe shirt over the users head, the shirt is passed onto the stationaryplaten by pulling it over the head end 15 of the platen. In the case ofironing coat-type shirts which are open entirely down the front it ismerely necessary to wrap the shirt around the platen until the edges ofthe split 9 portion are adjacent each other or they may be overlappedand one or two buttons secured in the buttonholes.

To properly locate and maintain the shirt on the platen, to preventunnecessary wrinkling of 10 the bosom, and to protect the neckband frombeing crushed by the movable presser 12, a neckband form 16 is providedon the head end 15 of the platen 11, and projects slightly above the topsurface thereof to accommodate various size neckbands.

Preferably, the form 16 is made slightly smaller than the smallestneckband normally placed thereon, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, so thatit is possible to have the neckband buttoned together at the time ofpressing or have them separated if desired, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4,particularly.

It is desirable to clamp or hold the shirt in proper position on theplaten so that it will not move between the time of assembly and workingengagement of the movable presser thereon, which would cause wrinkles tobe .pressed into the shirt bosom. This is particularly necessary aroundthe neckband and upper bosom part which is always the most conspicuouspart of the shirt while it is being worn, other parts being hidden by acoat, sweater, vest or the like.

The neckband clamping device provided in the present machine comprises aflexible metal band.

17 of substantially circular form which, although it is normallymaintained in an out-of-the-way inoperative position, as shown by fulllines in Fig. 1, may be moved downwardly onto the top of the shirtbosom, as shown in Fig. 2, and may be pulled backsolidly against theneckband vform 16 to securely clamp the neckband of the shirt to theform and thereby prevent any displacement which might tend to causewrinkles or creases to be ironed in the shirt.

The operating mechanism of the neckband clamping device comprises aniainarm .18 pivotally mounted on a stud '19 and capable of "a "limited rangeof clockwise movement from the .position shown in Fig. 1, and on :itsupper end the arm is provided with a pivotal connectioni20 to a block 21for the resilient band 17. 'Theframe 10 is provided with averticalstandardl22 upon which a crank plate 23 is pivotally mounted ona stud 24, and has three pivots 25, 26 and 27. The

pivot thas a'spring connection 28 with the offset ifinger29 portion ofthe main'arm 18, while the pivot '26 has a lever 30 connection with the:resilient band block 21 at 31and the third .pivot .27 thereon has ayielding connection 32 with the finger .33. The :entire clamping deviceis oper- .ated through rotation'of :the crank plate 23 by .a long lever34 with a ball 35 at its upper end, and :by movement'of this ball-toppedlever into :the positions A, 2B and C, shown in Fig. I1.

Thus, it is merely necessary for the operator to move the ball-toppedlever 34 from the position A to the. position =13 after a shirt has been:properly located upon the stationary platen :1-1, whereupon thecrank'plate 23 movesin a-counterclockwise :direction upon the :stud 24to move the .pivot 25 downwardly and through the compression-springconnection .28 move the 'main :arm 18 in a clockwise direction. At :thesame time the crank plate moves the .pivot 26 and'interconnected lever30 :tothereby cause the resilient strap -frame :17 to move in aclockwise direction about itsip'ivo't 20,:and'by the time the'ball-topp'edlever "34 reaches the position B the resilient band will:have :moved down onto the shirtbosom *and be slightly spaced from theneckband 'form :16 as shown by section lines in "Fig. 1 :and by full'lines in Fig. 2.

Upon further movement of tthe sball-topped lever 34 from the position Bto the position 10 resultant counterclockwise movement of :the zpivot 26merely moves a lower section 36 .of the lever -30 without :causingfurther "movementco'f the ruplper ilever section 3"! as permitted by:a'yielding connection38 therebetween and as caused by the lower edge ofthe resilient band 17 engaging the top ofthestationary platen 1L1andiby'a-strap or finger 39 carried by the -"blook 21 engaging the'buttons' lo and ll on top of the collar .form,:as -shown in 'Fig. l.The main purpose of the latter strap or finger 39 is to take up some ofthe load imposed upon the resilient band when it is moved in a clockwisedirection into engagement with the stationary platen.

In this movement of the ball-topped lever from the position 3 to theposition C the pivot 27 in its continued counterclockwise movement movesa flange l2 of a connecting bolt 13 into engagement with a face 44 ofthe finger 33, and, because the yielding connection 32 is stronger thanthe spring 28, it causes the arm 18 to be moved in a counterclockwisedirection again and this causes the resilient band 17 to be movedsecurely against the front face of the neckband form 16 to clampthe'neckband of a shirt securely thereto, as shown in Fig. 3.

Preferably, the neckband form is provided with a recessed portion 45which will accommodate the buttonon the neckband to thereby minimize thepossibility of crushing buttons, and, if desired, theformlmay'beprovided with a second recessed portion 46 of slightly lessdepth to accommodate the built-up portion of the cooperating buttonholewithout crushing the rim of said buttonhole together-urmecessarily.

After the neckband has been thoroughly clamped inthis manner and thebalance of the shirt front is clamped :down onto the platen by otherwell-known means the movable presser is brought into engagement with thetop surface of the stationary platen in order to press the bosom of theshirt. After the shirt bosom has been properly pressed it is merelynecessary for the operator to swing the ball-topped .lever back into theposition A whereupon the resilient band is first movedforwardly thenupwardly into its .inoperative position by the means .hereinbeforedescribed.

When the neckband isclamped in thisImanner there 151110 danger of itsturning over :and being forced down upon the bosom of the shirt to causeneedless wrinkling as the movable presser 12 and a :rim 47 defining theneckband .form clearance aperture 48 moves down into engagement with theshirt bosom inclose proximity to the neckband. Particularly, there is nopossibility-of the shirt front being moved'out ofr-position duringtravel of the movable presser xtoward the shirt and fixed platen, whichwould .result in .improper creasing. I

Neckband type shirts have been exceedingly popular and in vogue for manyyears .and the problem of preventing the conspicuous .part of .the shirtnear the neckband .irorn moving and being improperly creased .andprevent the neckband from coming into engagement with the shirt bosomduring the ironing operation of .the latter has heretofore been solvedwith the use of clamping devices similar to the one'hereinbeforedescribed. Until recent ,years the majority 01"" shirts requiring aneatly ironed 'bosom were of the neckband 'type for use with a separatedstarched collar 'made from various materials. A later voguebroughtin'soft collars, but even these were separable and for use with theneckband type of shirt.

The latest and increasing popular vogue with men is the use of shirtswith collars attached,

"because of the convenience obtained by-dispensing with the use of apair ofloose-collar buttons points by hand during the operation ofironing. This was no great hardship or inconvenience when the proportionof collar attached shirts was small in comparison with the number ofneckband shirts normally ironed in commercial laundries. However, itproved to be an inconvenience when collar attached shirts were used inincreased quantities, for it rendered one of the operators handsincapable for use in other auxiliary operations during much of the timerequired to iron a shirt, and created a hazard of crushed fingersbecause the operators fingers while holding the collar points wouldoften be very close to the normal path of travel of the movable pressertoward the stationary platen.

Efforts in the past to overcome this hazard and inefficiency resulted inthe provision of a pair of pins or projections rising vertically fromthe neckband form and so arranged that the operator might twist or turnthe free ends of the collar in back of the pins previous to the bosomironing operation. However, these arrangements required considerablemanipulation of the collar, for each end had to be handled separately inplacing it in back of the pins or other projections and were ofnecessity slow because the operator had to be careful not to crease orbend the free ends to such an extent as to cause improper wrinkling andcreasing. And, with some of these proposals it was also necessary tomanually disengage free ends of the collar from the pins after the shirtbosom had been properly ironed which, of course, also added to the timerequired to iron the shirt.

These disadvantages are overcome in the present invention by theprovision of a safety shield 50, preferably made integral with theneckband resilient strap 17 which extends a substantial height above thelatter and which is sufficiently Wide to overlap the free ends of anycollar attached shirt intended to be ironed in the machine which servesto move the collar ends into a safety zone and maintain them thereduring the ironing operation.

Preferably, the safety shield is made slightly concave in form tocorrespond with the radial front of the neckband form 16 and is made ofsubstantially the same height as the highest attached collars whichmight be on shirts placed in the machine. Also, it is made just wideenough to overlap the gap between the collar ends, yet not so wide thatit impairs the resil iency of the band 17.

With this invention, it is merely necessary for the operator to placethe shirt upon the stationary platen 11, as above described. When thisis done, the collar portion has a natural tendency to project upwardlyfrom the neckband, as shown in Fig. 4. However, it may lean forwardly orbackwardly somewhat, depending upon the length of the points and thestiffness of the material. Even if they do not initially lean forward,they may do so as a result of the operator straightening the bosom outon the top surface 13 of the stationary platen.

If the movable presser 12 should be brought down on the bosom while thecollar ends are projecting forwardly, the latter would be creased downupon the bosom or over the end of the neckband strap 17, unless meansare provided to avoid this, or unless the operator holds the collar endsback with her hands while lowering the presser, an extremely dangerousoperation.

With the device of the present invention, after the shirt bosom is laidout upon the top surface 13 of the stationary platen the operator merelyswings the ball-topped lever 34 from the position A to the position Cwhereupon the resilient band 17 andsafety shield 50 is moved down andover the top free ends of the collar into the int'ermediate position B,as shown in Fig. 2, and then to the left across the top of the platen 11and moves the free drooping ends of themollar rearwardly or to the leftinto a safety zone so that they will always be out of the path of therim 47 of the neckband form clearance slot 48, and thereby prevent alllikelihood of any portion of the collar being crushed by the movablepresser 12.

This is an especially advantageous feature, for should the collar or anypart thereof be crushed or pressed down, usually on the shirt bosom, inan irregular manner it is nearly always necessary to pass the entireshirt through the wash again in order to work out the improperly appliedcreases in both the bosom and collars Heretofore, it was customary tomanually manipulate the free ends of the collar, turning them in back ofpins or other projections extending vertically from the top of theneckband form 16. This, however, meant a considerable loss of time andsometimes caused undesirable creases in the collar if the operator wasnot extremely careful in folding the collar ends in back of theprojections, and sometimes the collar ends would become disengaged fromthe projections and because of inherent resiliency and lack of supportwould move into the path of the movable presser. All of thesedisadvantages are overcome with the simple safety shield provided by thepresent invention, for it spares operators the trouble and time ofmanually manipulating the free collar ends, placing them in back ofprojecting bands, lessens the possibility of improperly creasing thecollar, and positively moves and insures maintaining the free ends ofthe collar out of the path of the movable presser.

After the shirt bosom has been ironed it is merely necessary to throwthe ball-topped lever from the position C to the position A againwhereupon the resilient neckband clamping strap and the collar safetyshield is simultaneously moved back into the intermediate station B andthen into the inoperative position shown in Fig. 1, and the operator mayremove the shirt to replace it with another which is to be ironed.

Other variations and modifications may be made within the scope of thisinvention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and forwhich it is desired to obtain Letters-Patent, is:-

1. In a shirt bosom ironing press, the combination of a pair ofrelatively movable ironing plates; a neckband form on one of saidplates, and a clearance for the neckband form in the other plate havinga substantially circular rim which is adapted to iron a shirt bosomclose to the neckband; means for clamping the neckband of the shirts tosaid form; and a shield carried by said means and extending asubstantial distance above the neckband form when said means is inclamping position, whereby the free ends of the shirt collar will beheld from engagement with the circular rim when said plates arerelatively moved.

2. In a shirt bosom ironing press, the combination of a pair ofrelatively movable ironing plates; a neckband form on one of said platesLAD of relatively small iheight, and 5.13: 5 clearance for the,neckband-form, in the-otherplate defined fornhwhen the strap is inclamping position,

=wherebyothe 'free ends ofg-the shirt collar will be held fr omengagament ;with therim when said plates are relatively moved.

53. In -a -shi-rt bosom ironingpress the combination-of :a pair ofrelatively movable ironing plates; a neckband form on one of saidplates,

anda;clearance .for the neekband .form in the other; plates comprising asubstantially circular rimwhichis 7 adapted: to iron a shirt :bosom:close to the neckband; and a combined neckband clamping strap, ofsubstantiallythe same height as Ethe neckband form ,for clamping aneckband to saidfform,- and asafety shield which extends a substantialdistance above the neckband :form -for moving qthefreeends of the collarinto an area lof-safet'y above saidcollar form and free from en agementwith the circularprlm when said plates are relatively moved.

4.1m a'shirt bo-som ironing press, the combination of 'a (pair ofrelatively "movable ironing plates; a neckband-form on one of saidplatesof relatively small :height, 1 and a clearance 'for "the tanceaboveathen-eckband formatoxoverlie collar ends of narrowlwidth' so thatitawi-llnot impair the resiliency of the neckband holdingimeansand willmaintain :the free ends .of theshirt'collar from engagement with the rimwhen said plates are relativelymoved.

'5. In aishirtbosom; ironing press -the combination of a pair ofrelatively-movableironingiplates; a zneckban'd .form on one of saidplates, and a clearance .for the =neckband form in the other platehaving a substantially: circular rim which is, adapted to iron ashirtbosom closeto ,thezneckband; ;.a. strap for clamping thet-rneckband .of the shirt on the form; means for'moving said straptoward :and from said neckband form; .and :a

safety shieldxon said strap and extending agsubstantial: distance abovethe neckband form when said strap is -in .c1amping position "for:positively movingthe free-endstof-the shirt collarinto :.a

safety zone overlying said :neckband .form and outiof the pathof travelwof'the circular=rim when said'strap is moved toward theneekbandform.

ANDREW 'VARGO.

